August 24, 2023

US Department of Labor sues Waukegan contractor who refuses to pay more than $360K in penalties for repeatedly endangering roofing employees

Contractor operating as ECS Roofing Professionals cited 9 times since 2014

CHICAGO – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed suit in federal court to force a Waukegan roofing contractor to pay $360,531 in penalties for repeatedly exposing employees to falls from elevations, the leading cause of fatal injuries in the construction industry.

Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago, the action follows an Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission decision on March 6, 2023, that affirmed the citations issued by the department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration after its investigation found that Joshua Herion — operator of ECS Roofing Professionals Inc. — exposed employees to deadly fall hazards at two separate job sites in Illinois and Wisconsin in October 2022.

Specifically, OSHA determined the contractor did not provide employees required fall arrest systems, a safety net or guardrails as they installed siding and roofing materials atop roofs in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and at a job site in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

After OSHA issued citations and fined ECS Roofing $226,530 for the Illinois violations and $134,001 for violations in Wisconsin, the company contested the citations and penalties with the commission. Despite the commission's decision affirming the penalties in full, Herion has failed to pay the penalties which led the department's Office of the Solicitor in Chicago to file suit to recover the penalties.

"The Department of Labor has taken this action to force Joshua Herion and his company, ECS Roofing Professionals Inc., to comply with the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission order to pay more than $360,000 in penalties," said Regional Solicitor of Labor Christine Heri in Chicago. "The Occupational Safety and Health Act requires employers to comply with federal safety and health regulations to meet their legal obligation to protect workers on the job."

Herion's history of OSHA violations dates to 2014. Since then, OSHA has cited Herion and his companies nine times for violations related to fall protection.

"Each year, too many construction workers fall victim to the leading cause of workplace fatalities in the industry because employers fail to provide fall protection," said OSHA Region Administrator Bill Donovan in Chicago. "OSHA is committed to holding employers like Herion and ECS Roofing Professionals accountable when they ignore their legal responsibility to protect employees from potentially deadly and disabling injuries."

In 2021, nearly one in five workplace deaths occurred in the construction industry. Just over one-third of construction fatalities were due to falls, slips and trips. Of these, almost all were from falls to a lower level. The construction industry accounted for 46.2 percent of all fatal falls, slips and trips in 2021, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.

OSHA's stop falls website offers safety information and video presentations in English and Spanish to teach workers about fall hazards and proper safety procedures.

Learn more about OSHA.

Media Contacts:

Scott Allen, 312-353-4727, allen.scott@dol.gov
Rhonda Burke, 312-353-4807, burke.rhonda@dol.gov

Release Number: 23-1863-CHI